


Tell Me Your Secrets

by TheBritishGovernment



Category: Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: 5+1 Things, He knows all the secrets, Tanner knows all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-05 20:06:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4193196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBritishGovernment/pseuds/TheBritishGovernment
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one ever really thinks about how much Tanner knows about everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tell Me Your Secrets

No one really noticed when Tanner was in the room. He was just always there, always present but never really accounted for. No matter what kind of situation it was Tanner was expected to be there and paying attention. It was really no surprise that he knew more abut people than he liked to.

 

**Mallory**

Tanner had been called into Mallory’s office to talk about a potential mission in Uzbekistan, but when Tanner walked in Mallory was on the phone with his lawyer.

“Of course you can do something! She _cheated_ on me! Damnit, she _is_ cheating on! There’s bound to be something in the prenup about that!” Mallory was screaming into his phone and didn’t seem to have noticed that Tanner had entered the room. He was looking out over the city, his posture stiff as he listened to what was being said on the other end of the line. 

“Yes, fine. 6 o’clock is fine. Thank you, goodbye,” he said eventually in a much calmer and resided voice. Mallory hung up the phone and sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Tanner cleared his throat politely. Mallory turned around and he might have looked embarrassed if he were the type to do so.

“I’m sorry you had to hear that,” Mallory started to apologize in a quiet, professional voice.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir,” Tanner said, stepping further into the room and taking a file out from under his arm and setting it on the desk. Mallory nodded with a small, possibly grateful, smile before picking up the file.

**Eve**

Another mission had gone to shit and he had been called in and told to pick her up from her flat on the way there. The person who answered the door, however, was defiantly not Moneypenny. She was a beautiful Indian woman in a hoodie and a pair of extremely short pajama shorts.

“Is Eve here?” he asked professionally.

“Who are you?” she asked without any venom, just running through the motions he assumed.

“Bill Tanner. I work-“ Tanner started but was cut off by Moneypenny’s voice.

“He’s okay. Let him in.”

The woman in front of him smiled hospitably at him and moved to the side so he could enter. She lead him into a living room without pictures or anything that looked remotely personal besides the two laptops with stickers on the back sitting on the coffee table. 

“She should be down soon,” the woman said in a slightly awkward way.

Tanner only nodded and tried to make the situation a little less awkward by avoiding looking at her too closly. Moneypenny came down soon after that, turning to kiss the other woman. “I’ll see you later,” she said, taking another kiss. She moved towards the door only for the other woman to take her wrist.

“Ring,” she said as a reminder. 

“Right,” Moneypenny said, slipping a gold band off of her ring finger and handing it to the other woman with another kiss. “What would I do without you?”

“Get into a lot more trouble,” she grinned. They kissed again, lingering a little longer.

Tanner cleared his throat and arched and eyebrow at Moneypeney. She only smiled innocently at him. “Let’s go. I’ll be back,” she said taking one more quick kiss before walking towards the door. When they were in Tanner’s car she looked at him.

“Flirting is the only way to get the agents to do anything, I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone,” she said, carefully watching him for a reaction.

“Why would I tell them? I can’t very well flirt with them.” Tanner glanced over at Moneypenny and saw her relax slightly.

“I’ll give you some pointers.”

 

**Alec**

 

Double-Os were supposedly the most efficient killing machines that MI6 had. They also tended to be the most emotional at the beginning. Every one of them had a story, though most of them kept them well hidden. Bond did not achieve this. Everyone knew about Vesper Lynd and those who were braver (or dumber depending on your point of view) would not let Bond live it down. That was why Double-Os kept their emotions hidden and secret. Alec hadn’t been any worse or any better than any of the other agents but took just as much shame in it. 

He had been on a mission in Chile when he saw a ghost: a girl with green eyes, and blonde hair, and a light Russian accent. It shouldn’t have been possible for her to be alive, let alone sitting across a table from a bioterrorist. 

The only thing that Q-Branch had heard was a mumbled “Evana,” and the sound of the earwig being dropped on the floor and distant hissing followed by metal clinking to the ground. Then his tracking and communications went dead and people started cursing, knowing he had crushed both pieces of tech.

Tanner cursed under his breath and rushed up to M’s office. At the time it still belonged to a short, mostly angry woman who stood up and demanded to know what was going on when Tanner walked into her of office without announcing himself first.

“006 has gone AWOL,” he said immediately and she cursed. 20 hours of travel time later they were in Alec’s hotel room in Santiago. He was already inside sitting at a desk with papers scattered around him and a laptop open to MI6 files.

“Trevelyan,” M said carefully.

“Ma’am,” he said carefully, as he stood up from the desk.

Tanner moved silently to the desk and started gathering all of the papers together, and grabbing the laptop.

“Sit,” M said, motioning to a couch across the room. He sat and tried to maintain a look of dignity despite being treated like a child. “Would you like to explain to me what the hell you’re thinking? Selling this information is treason, Trevelyan, and you know it.”

“It’s my sister,” he said in way of explanation.

“I don’t care if it’s your bloody clone. Treason is treason! Now get out of my sight and back to London. These agents will escort you,” she scolded firmly gesturing for him to leave the room. 

006’s sister died three days later and he didn’t report for duty for over six months.

 

**Bond**

 

Skyfall was a mess for everyone. No one wanted to go retrieve the dead Head of MI6 or the agent who had just destroyed his childhood home and watched his pseudo mother die. Tanner went, though. He was sent out with a group of medical officers and a few field agents to collect them.

The entire group of agents surrounded the chapel, knowing Bond was inside. 

“Go secure the rest of the estate. Check for any survivors, so we can bring them into questioning,” he ordered gesturing to the still smoldering remains of the mansion. The agents left immediately left and the medical team stared curiously at him before he made another shooing motion.

He quietly stepped inside of the supposed-to-be sanctuary only to be faced by the backs of two men, hunched over something on the ground. He immediately recognized one of the men as Bond, but didn’t know the other man who had his arms wrapped around Bond’s body and rocking him back and forth, silently bidding Bond’s sobs to stop. 

He stared in almost shock at the scene. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but a sobbing Bond was not it. Suddenly Tanner realized that he wasn’t looking at Bond. He was looking at someone he hadn’t known existed anymore. He was looking at James, the scared little boy whose mom just died. He also knew that that little boy would never appear again.

 

**Q**

Q was a private person. No one knew his birthday, no one knew where he lived, no one even knew his name. The only thing most knew about him was he was dangerous (and people in Q-Branch knew how he took his tea), but that was about it. There were theories of course; there was even a betting pool in Q-Branch as to who Q was before he was Q. There was every suggestion from hacker who got caught and MI6 recruited him to him walking into MI6 and no one really thinking he was out of place. All of these made Tanner smirk since he remembered his interview.

At the time that Q was hired his father was a person of slight importance, or at least his father was. Q happened to be the son of the PM when he was interviewed. 

M had interviewed him personally, as demanded by the PM. Tanner sat in the corner because he couldn’t really be arsed to get up and leave when he was just going to have to go back and finish his meeting with M. They had both seen Q’s family as a drawback. She still liked him well enough, though. Upon his second interview, which Tanner still didn’t care enough to leave, they decided to give Q a fake name and hide his identity from everyone there.

John Smith started work two weeks later.

**Tanner**

Tanner needed to get back to his office, to his chair, to his painkillers. Yes, that was all he needed to do. The limp would go away after a few hours of sitting and a handful of painkillers.

“Hey, Tanner,” a voice sounded behind him down the hall.

He cursed under his breath and kept walking as fast as he could without looking like he was running away.

“Do you need some help?” the voice asked, followed closely by a snicker.

Tanner stopped and turned around sharply. “As a matter of fact you haven’t turned in you paperwork since…never. So get on that,” Tanner said sharply, before turning around and walking back towards his office. Just a bit further.

“I mean should I get you a cane or something?” There was an undeniable grin in the voice.

“Only if you want me to shove it up your arse, 009,” Tanner said turning a corner and almost bumping into Q. “Shit,” he cursed again. “Sorry, Q. Bit of a hurry. Paperwork, 009.” He rushed back to his office and hoped for once the Quartermaster chose not to see what was in front of him.

He reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a bottle from Medical and popped a few pills to the back of his throat and swallowed. He started shaking his head as he remembered his own secret. 

Tanner had been a Double-O. He had been one of the best until a shot to his left knee shattered the kneecap and he had to have it completely reconstructed in surgery. He hadn’t made a name for himself since he went in, did the job, and got out without the flair Trevelyan or Bond had. No one even knew who he was when he showed up as the Chief of Staff sending off the number 007 off to Bond.

 

He had completely forgotten about the incident with 009 and Q (well, as much as a sledgehammer to your pride can be forgotten) by two weeks later after 009 finished a mission and Q walked into his office looking dangerously pleased with himself.

“Can I help you, Quartermaster?” he asked, folding his hands in front of him.

“I seem to have misplaced 009. Also some files about the 007 before the current 007 seem to be missing from the archive. That and your medical file seems to have been tampered with just slightly.” Q’s voice only got more and more happy as he spoke.

“How did you manage to misplace a Double-O?” Tanner asked carefully.

“All of his credit cards have been canceled and his last flight might have sent him to Northern Canada.” Q shrugged desperately trying to fight against the grin on his face.

“Thank you, Q,” Tanner said quietly, with a thankful nod.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said turning around and leaving the room.

**Author's Note:**

> I just really love Bill Tanner. He is my bae. I want so much of him in the new movie. Love


End file.
